Archive for November, 2004

Lots of birthdays in late November and December. Mark was 32 last Thursday, but wanted to keep it quiet. Too late for that now I suppose!!

My mum was 60 on Saturday. We all went for dinner and then Sunday she went out with some of her friends for a girls night out (almost pensioners night out doesn’t have the same ring to it!!). They came back to my parents house a bit tipsy and Eddie and I had to escape to the pub to avoid a horde of drunken boisterous 60+ year olds.

This week Edu and Ronan have birthdays and Noelles and mine aren’t far away either. And then later in we have Eddie’s birthday (he will be 35!!!) and of course jesus’s.

We got new lights for the office and there are now 46 out of 48 lights working as opposed to maybe 16 this morning!

Its certainly bright in here now. VERY BRIGHT. and everything is suddenly reflective and shiny especially white things like paper and application backgrounds. I think I may need a glare guard of some sort. Or dark glasses. I could be cool and wear dark glasses all the time.

Its also noticeably warmer sitting here under the 16 flourescent lights more or less directly above me where before there were none.

Yesterday was the penultimate yoga class before christmas, and the second without maria. Numbers are WAY down, from almost 30 at the first class to about 12. And there are less than 10 people who have been there for the entire thing.

Phil, the yoga instructor seems to prefer small goups and he certainly enjoyed himself yesterday, with a lot of walking around and pushing people into position, which he has rarely done before. He tried some of the more complicated manouvers made sure everybody got a good attempt at the lotus position. Many of us only got half way! Must practice…

There will be more classes next year and I may even try to find a second yoga class if it doesn’t clash with fencing.

The AIB on campus has been robbed a twice in the last few weeks. So now they have installed an airlock (with secutity guard), which is presumably designed to trap armed robbers in the bank with hostages as opposed to letting them get away with a couple of thousand euros in cash (and they were caught anyway).

The airlock beeps and is annoying and I think I would rather be robbed every week than have to work with that.

Horrible Revenge and Nevishness
I am doing the whole misdirected anger at Nev for leaving me drinking vodka with a madman until 3am this morning thing. So here are his answers to some silly email that Ben sent around. there are some good Nevisms included. Although nobody seems to know what "hughy" is in Q 8.
1. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? [Neville Gawley] this is a computer, I don't multitask
2. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW? [Neville Gawley] now
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? [Neville Gawley] my mouse
4. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BOARD GAME? [Neville Gawley]
5. FAVOURITE MAGAZINE? [Neville Gawley] a full one
6. BABIES? [Neville Gawley] why not
7. FAVOURITE SOUND? [Neville Gawley] "will that be all, Sir?"
8. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? [Neville Gawley] Hughy
9. FIRST THING YOU THINK OF IN THE MORNING? [Neville Gawley] oh look, its morning
10. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? [Neville Gawley] when it fucking rings
11. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? [Neville Gawley]
12. FAVOURITE COLOUR? [Neville Gawley] vibrant
13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN YOUR LIFE?[Neville Gawley] life
14. FAVOURITE FOOD? [Neville Gawley] food
15. If you could PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?[Neville Gawley] people16. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? [Neville Gawley] fast compared to what?
17. SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? [Neville Gawley]
18. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY? [Neville Gawley]
19. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? [Neville Gawley]
20. THE ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?[Neville Gawley] me
21. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? [Neville Gawley] the one I'm drinking
22. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR? [Neville Gawley] the fucking spare
24. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE? [Neville Gawley] what is this job thing? I do things, stuff happens
25. PEOPLE LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND To THIS EMAIL? [Neville Gawley] The people I didn't send it to
26. EVER BEEN IN LOVE? [Neville Gawley] some genius hard coded it into the human condition
27. IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL? [Neville Gawley] it alright I have one on order
28. FAVOURITE MOVIE? [Neville Gawley]
29. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? [Neville Gawley]
30. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? [Neville Gawley]
31. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? [Neville Gawley] 0
32. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SPORT TO WATCH? [Neville Gawley] sport and watching invalidate this sentence
33. SAY AT LEAST ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? [Neville Gawley]
34. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD IT BE? [Neville Gawley] anywhere
35. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? [Neville Gawley]
36. BEACH, MOUNTAINS OR CITY? [Neville Gawley]
37. TECHNOLOGY OR ART? [Neville Gawley] there is a difference?
38. COMEDY OR HORROR? [Neville Gawley]
39. FAVOURITE PHYSICAL FEATURE? [Neville Gawley] Mountains
40. FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY? [Neville Gawley] Now
41. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? [Neville Gawley]
43. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED? [Neville Gawley] in a massage parlour
44. WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY? [Neville Gawley] find the dividing line and I'll tell you
45. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? [Neville Gawley] then
46. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE KITCHEN ITEM? [Neville Gawley] the food
47. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY? [Neville Gawley] fake blood on the bathroom floor 2 weeks later
48. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR 4x4? [Neville Gawley]
49. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE? [Neville Gawley]
50. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SEASON? [Neville Gawley] Now
51. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? [Neville Gawley] obliviousness
52. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT? [Neville Gawley] The best are those only the intimate can see so why bother.
53. CAN YOU JUGGLE? [Neville Gawley] meetings, money, people, of course
54. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DAY? [Neville Gawley] Today
55. WHICH DO YOU PREFER SUSHI OR HAMBURGER? [Neville Gawley] Sushi burger
56. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST? [Neville Gawley] Me if I Cc myself
57. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM?[Neville Gawley]
58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CARTOON? [Neville Gawley]
59. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MEAL? [Neville Gawley] The next one
60. IF YOU COULD TAKE A VACATION ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD ITBE? [Neville Gawley] Here
61. DO YOU HAVE PETS? [Neville Gawley]

I was going to complain that in spite of doing aerobics a few times a week, the odd run or two, fencing and now yoga there are many many days where I don’t feel fitter or healthier at all!!!

Instead I get to complain that I was drinking vodka until 3am this morning, with someone who can’t hold their drink yet refuses to admit this and so keeps on drinking, and tries to keeep others drinking as well, and then more-or-less just falls over. For sure I wasn’t a completely unwilling accomplice but I wasn’t throwing myself at the vodka bottle either. Not that there is enough vodka left to be worth throwing oneslf at.

The fact that I was in before 9:45 this morning, for no particular reason (well; my mum rang at 9:05 looking for Dunnes Stores stamps and offering me a lift), and that is the first time I have been in college before 10 IN WEEKS, is just adding pain and horribleness to the whole experience.

But I am in before Ronan, although given that his bike tyre was slashed AGAIN last night (two days in a row) that may not be too surprising

After a year or so of going to aerobics, I have never seen anyone have a nasty accident – the odd slip on the ground, or from a step here and there, resulting in a tumble or a twisted ankle but nothing serious.

Yesterday, Maria ended up a few rows behind the rest of us, and as I knew she thought she was coming down with a sore throat I looked back to see how she was doing. She was sitting on the step, not looking very happy with herself. I thought “crap she must be feeling tired or something” and gave a quick thumbs-up, to which I received a negative response and a forlorn glance at her feet. “Ah! She must have twisted her ankle. I’m sure she will be fine”. I looked back a few more times, but she wasn’t getting up.

Early in the class its hard to get the attention of an instructor or Richie, so it took some time before one of the instructors, Martin went to help her. When I saw that I was relieved. Until at least I noticed that Maria couldn’t walk even with Martin’s assistance and eventually had to be carried off the court by Martin and another girl. At this stage I was rather worried. And its hard to do aerobics when your mind is elsewhere.

At a convenient time I went over to see if she was ok. The lads had her seated on a chair with her foot elevated and she seemed fine, if a bit down. Essentially I said that once she felt better and she collected her gear then if she waited for us outside I would tell Eoin to give her a lift home after the class. I could do this because A) I knew that Eoin would of course give Maria a lift home if she was injured and B) it isn’t really a situation where one asks “if it would not be an awfully great inconvenince then maybe you wouldn’t mind possibly offering Maria a lift home after the class”. In any case Eoin offered at once to drive Maria home, even if he admitted later he hadn’t noticed anything untoward happening earlier – he had in fact initially assumed I had gone to get water. Eoin can be a bit oblivious sometimes.

During the class Richie, Martin, another instructor and some of the Arena people checked in with Maria and got ice for her ankle and bandaged it etc. During the break We were chatting to Maria again and she said that while she should be able to limp to the car, she probably wouldn’t be able to collect her gear as well. So I approached Jackie another aerobics regular, who we also know through yoga, filled her in on what was happening and asked her if she would talk to Maria after the class with a view to collecting her gear etc. Jackie was more than happy to help and even volunteered to drive Maria home, if we did not have a lift already. A number of other aerobic regulars who noticed Maria’s distress also came over to check on her, which was nice.

Eoin and I went to change etc after the class. We commented that if Maria was still in distress more than an hour after the incident then she may have some thing more serious than a twisted ankle. But also that she was likely to be a stubborn patient and would be unlikely to want to go to hospital at this stage. Which proved to be the case.

Hilarity ensued as we tried to manage numerous bags, an umbrella and a hopping Maria out of the gym, up some steps and to Eoin’s car. We were able to bully Maria into letting us into her house, where we made some tea, engaged in witty banter and repartee and more or less kept her entertained until Maria’s housemate Colin turned up, parking annoying close to Eoin’s car. Then we went home.

This morning I rang Maria about 11ish to see how she was. She still can’t put weight on her foot and even the weight of the bedclothes caused some distress last night,. So she is getting Colin to drive her to A&E to get everything checked out.

UPDATE: Maria was in St Johns and did the whole x-ray etc rigmarole. She has a sprained ankle and will be on crutches for a week. After that no exercise for 4-6 weeks.

Looks like I am without a yoga buddy for a while. Still it means I should beat her at our christmas run this year .